They way that PayPal deals with UPS shipping payments has got to be the most insane system on the planet.
As many of you have discovered, unlike USPS payments which are made immediately just like any other PayPal payment, PayPal 'reserves' or 'holds' an estimated amount, which in my case has always been a little higher than the actual amount actually charged. This appears on the classic site history as "Authorization to" UPS and a "Temporary Hold" by Paypal. Eventually (I believe it's 5 days later) this temporary hold expires. I'm not sure if the temporary hold appears on the "new" activity summary (if it does it dissapears when it's removed) - IMO they took a crummy history/activity display and made it much worse so I always go to the 'classic site' view.
By the time the hold expires (or shortly after) UPS should have figured out the actual charges, which will be different than the estimated charges, and these will be deducted from your account. I found out the hard way that you must maintain a sufficient balance in your account to cover these charges. Unlike every other PayPal payment, they will NOT be automatically transferred from your bank account or back up credit card, and you will receive dire warnings about being overdrawn and the severe consequences that will befall you if you don't immediately make emergency arrangements to recover your account.
I guess the purpose of the temporary hold is to ensure you have sufficient funds when the actual charge is made, but obviously (aside from being incredibly confusing and ridiculously complex) this doesn't work. As other posters have also commented, it's beyond me why the UPS charge can't be handled like all other charges (use PayPal balance first, if insuficient then charge bank account or credit card). I often transfer entire paypal balance to bank account so that I can use credit card to pay for something (impossible if you have any paypal balance), so this gets tricky if I have a pending UPS shipping payment!
Today I discovered a whole new level of obfuscation and insanity with regards to UPS payments. I was reviewing my PayPal Statements to find a UPS shipping charge on an Ebay transaction, but I couldn't find it? Eventually I figured out that the UPS charge showed up on my account history (new or classic) but NOT on my account statements. What kind of bank statement doesn't show ALL transactions? I was concerened because I only keep PayPal statements as my long term record (I don't download history). Confused and perplexed googled this issue and didn't find anything, so I called PayPal support. They seemed very confused but eventually stated that because the UPS payments are made with my "PayPal Debit Card" they won't appear on my statement. I wasn't aware I HAD a PayPal Debit Card, but support transferred me to the debit card department.
After 30 minutes or so on hold, the debit card support person explained that I don't in fact have a 'normal' debit card and UPS charges are made with a "hidden debit card" - so that's why they don't appear on the PayPal statement. She then proceeded to explain how to download account history so I can actually see all my transactions. I'll probably forgo this pleasure (I tried the most recent month and got a mesage that since the document is so huge PayPal will send me an email when it's ready).
So, I finally accepted this as the way things are but it strikes me as WAY beyond insane that a bank-like entity would resort to this level of accounting mumbo jumbo.
Hopefully this long-winded diatribe will help some other confused PayPall / UPS users out there. It helped me to vent at any rate.
